


potential

by knightargents



Category: Banana Fish (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Angels, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Post-Canon, all the ships are hinted tbh, eiji is the pretty boy who gets all the boys LOL
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-31
Updated: 2019-03-07
Packaged: 2019-10-01 03:05:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,826
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17236154
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/knightargents/pseuds/knightargents
Summary: “Do..." Ash paused. He took a breath and started again, "Ya’ll think Eiji’s happy with Sing?”





	1. Chapter 1

It’s been a few years since Ash came to join them, but Shorter got used to him around. Granted, he didn’t expect Ash to end up with them for at least another few years, if not decades. It came as a surprise to everyone there, when one day instead of Ash being down on earth, he was up in the clouds with them. Skip was happy, but sad over Eiji being left alone without any of them with him.

 

Ash, for the most part, was blissful. All the pressures and anxieties he faced were gone. All his fears were gone. The only thing he needed was Eiji. Eiji who could jump, who could fly. He wanted him to fly, higher and higher until he reached him at the clouds.

 

His shoulders have never felt lighter. He could say he was happy, if not for the empty feeling he got when he remembered Eiji wasn’t with him. He missed him deeply, he missed him every hour of every day, and he spent his days watching over him. Shorter, who used to watch over them both, would join him most days

 

“You know I had a crush on him?”, Shorter said.

 

“What?” Ash starts. His wings flutter quickly as he looks up from the gap in the clouds.

 

Shorter’s crouching, his knees pulled up to his chest. He hides his smirk in his knees. “Yeah” he says, a bit muffled. “He was really cute as fuck.” 

 

“I-I mean I KNOW but like, you never really...you were into guys?” Ash tries to pretend he’s not blushing but Shorter can definitely see the rising pink against his pale skin. It doesn’t help surrounding them is all white, which makes his blush stand out more.

 

Shorter snickers, gets up, and starts walking away. 

 

“Shorter...Shorter you didn’t answer my question. Shorter wait, come back!” Ash says as he scrambles up to chase him. The gap in the cloud begins to close as they both get further from it, no angels to keep it open.

 

* * *

 

It’s nighttime in the city. Ash, Shorter, and Skip are lying back against the clouds, looking up to the stars. The view from here is clear, something they’d never see down in Manhattan. It’s breathtaking, and they spend entire nights just staring at the twinkling lights. Most nights pass in silence. They don’t need words to entertain them, not here.

 

Tonight isn’t one of those nights, Skip could tell. It took a while until Ash spoke what was troubling him for the past few months.

 

“Do…” Ash stopped. He took a breath and started again, “Ya’ll think Eiji’s happy with Sing?”

 

Skip turned toward Ash, and he could feel Shorter shift near him. “You mean like…” Skip turned toward Shorter, who gave him an painful look. They both knew Eiji meant more to Ash than he wanted to admit. Skip continued, “You mean like romantically?”

 

“What?! No! I meant like, just being there with him. As friends. Obviously.”

 

Shorter sat up. He looked down at his hands, then at Ash. “He’s been happier now than he’s been in years, Ash. I think...I think Sing is good for him, whether he’s his friend or more.”

 

Ash sat up suddenly. “But-”

 

“I think you should listen to what Shorter said, Ash.” Skip said quietly. “I only got to know Eiji for a little while, but I’ve been watching all of you since the beginning. He’s...he was always a little sad. But then you made him so happy, Ash. You and Shorter did. You couldn’t even tell he had history when he was with you guys.” He took a breath before continuing. “But you’re not there anymore, Ash. Me, Shorter...none of us are there anymore. He needs Sing. He needs someone there for him, and none of us were able to do that. I’m not saying let him go, but what can we do from up here?”

 

Ash leaned back on the clouds again. Skip was right, even though he didn’t want to admit it out loud. Eiji was strong, stronger than he looked. Strong where Ash was weak. They completed each other, and Ash wanted him by his side desperately. Wanted to lean his head on his shoulder, wanted to hear his heartbeat, wanted to hold him, to breathe him into his lungs.

 

But Eiji needed someone, someone who went through the same traumas he did. He was human after all. Sing was the only one left. He could hold him when Ash wasn’t there.

 

Ash breathed out. “You’re right. I’m just...I just miss him.”

 

_ I miss him a lot. _

 


	2. Chapter 2

The flowers Sing brought him have been sitting in the vase on his living room table for the better part of three days. He’s not really familiar with flowers, but it’d be hard not to recognize them for what they are - forget-me-nots. He doesn’t know if Sing has bought these species on purpose or not, but they are lovely against his table either way.

 

The early Friday morning breeze blows through his window, cooling his skin. From his apartment, he can begin to hear the world awaken. He has no idea what he’s going to do today. His current project’s been finished for the past few days, and he’s been waiting to hear back from the editor of the magazine he submitted them to. The morning sun reflects off the cover of the book he left on the couch last night. He doesn’t necessarily feel like reading right now. He knows he should get out of the house, it’s been almost a week since he last left. 

 

Eiji’s eyes land on the blue of the flowers on his table. He makes a decision.

 

\---

 

The sky is blue. Cloudy enough to provide some shade, breezy enough to cool his skin. The air smells fresh today, not muggy like it’s been the rest of this summer. Eiji can smell autumn approaching from the crispiness of the air. 

 

It’s quiet. The business of the morning rush is far from this little corner of the world. Eiji walks through the area, at this point his feet guide him automatically, knowing where to go.

 

He stops by the plaque. The words _Aslan Jade Callenreese_ stare back at him, silent like the last decade of his life has been. Everytime he sees the name, his heart clenches. Even though it’s been almost 10 years, he still remembers the almost two-year legal battle to change the name on the gravestone from Golzine to Callenreese. His hands grip the bundle of flowers tighter, anger burning through him like a hot flash for an instant. He takes a deep breath, rolls his shoulders, and sits on the ground in front of Ash’s gravestone.

 

“You know, Ash,” and here he has to pause. This part used to be so difficult for him. Acknowledging that he’s really gone. It’s gotten easier with time, but the pain never really ebbs away completely. Sometime it’s incapacitated him, but today it is more like a sore wound. “It’s been a while. I’ve been busy, what with the magazine and stuff…” Eiji fiddles with one of the flowers for a bit. He didn’t plan on coming here this morning. It was a spur-of-the-moment decision, but he’s been wanting to come talk to Ash for a while now.

 

“Hmm. I miss you. I miss you all the time, really. But you know that, because I tell you every time I visit.” He laughs a bit humorlessly. He looks down at the flowers, still fidgeting with a few of the petals.

 

“Sometimes I think about, ‘What if you were here?’, you know? Objectively, I know my life would be different, but it’s still shocking to me sometimes if I think about just how different. At first, I kind of hated you. The fact that you left and how...it was just so sudden, Ash. We had an entire future kind of planned there. And now I feel like I live in some weird, messed up, twisted world that shouldn’t exist.” He stops fiddling with the flowers for a bit, laying them down near Ash’s stone.

 

“But you know, it’s...I...I haven’t moved on. I don’t think I’d ever move on from you, Ash. But, I couldn’t stay in that position again. I couldn’t stay depressed and living off others like that. I hope you can forgive me for it. I think if the positions were switched, I would forgive you, so I'm hoping you'd do the same for me.”

 

The breeze slightly picked up, brushing stray hairs away from Eiji’s forehead. 

“Over the years Sing helped me a lot. He really grew up into a man. Like, a  _ man _ . He’s even taller than you were, I think.” At this, Eiji laughs a bit, remembering how small Sing once was. It’s hard to imagine the tall figure as he was when they first met all those years ago. “I closed myself off from everyone. Even my sister for a while, which hurt her a lot I think. I regret that period of my life a lot. But I don’t think I’d have been able to change anything if I go back.”

“It’s nice that he’s there. I feel like a lot of people have left from my life over the years. First it was my dad with his sickness. Then my mom with her work and taking care of us. Then my teammates when I stopped trying, back in Japan. And then...Skip died, Shorter died...you died.” He whispers out that last part. Saying it still hurts, even after all these years. “So, it’s nice.” Eiji says to the silent gravestone. “To have Sing here with me. It’s nice that he hasn’t quit on me or left me too. I think if he did, I’d break, I really would.”

“But, he’s not you. And you’re not him. I don’t want you to think I’m betraying you, or anything. But I miss you everyday, Ash. Aslan. I miss you every day. There’s not a single night that’s passed by where I didn’t think of being in your arms, or you being in mine. Sing...he makes me happy. He’s been so kind and patient with me. He misses you too. We all do. Max, Jessica, Michael, Ibe, the old gang. I wish you were here with us. With me. I don’t know if I’ll move on, if I’ll ever really be over it, but I’m getting better. I’m healing. I’m finally getting over my depression from New York. I think it’s good for me, being vulnerable with someone again finally.”

Eiji smiles, bright and peaceful. “But even then, my soul is still with you, dummy.” He kisses the forget-me-nots, then places them on Ash’s grave. As he gets up and walks away, a soft breeze brushes his skin and the clouds above break, letting the sunlight peak through down on him. 

 


End file.
